Latest News and Comment from Education
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Arizona: State Supreme Court Kicks Anti-Voucher Referendum Off the Ballot - Save Our Schools Arizona enlisted thousands of volunteers to reform the state’s costly, wasteful, and destructive voucher program. They collected almost ha...2 hours ago
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Trump's executive order - The Supreme Court ruled in the case brought by state attorneys general challenging Trump’s executive order on elections. In this case, the government ...3 hours ago
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Toward Wisdom Rather Than Mere Education - It's "fire season" here on the West Coast of the US. Currently, there are 32 active "large" fires burning, not to mention the dozens of smaller fires or ...3 hours ago
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A Rational Response to NYC Reading Score Decline: And the Evidence to Support That - “[W]hat does it actually mean to talk about students ‘falling behind’ when their learning conditions are becoming increasingly dire?” Emma Lee 08.23.26 NYT4 hours ago
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TODAY'S TOP NEWS - YESTERDAY'S BEST BLOG POSTS AUGUST 25 2026 - *TODAY’S TOP NEWS - YESTERDAY’S BEST BLOG POSTS AUGUST 25, 2026REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER* *U.S. NEWS* - *Mass Visa Revocations Planned:* The U....10 hours ago
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Kid Gov. Katelyn Talley: ‘Conflicts and finding solutions are a big part of leadership’ - [image: Katelyn Talley]Valliant sixth grader Katelyn Talley is in the home stretch of her term as Oklahoma’s 2026 “kid governor” after campaigning on a p...12 hours ago
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McMahon Doesn't Understand Education - Linda McMahon goes on a Sunday morning show and... blah18 hours ago
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McMahon Doesn't Understand Education - McMahon's particular brand of passionless functionary was on display Sunday morning for a dozen minutes with Dana Bash. The interview kicked around a few t...18 hours ago
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AI Bogus EdTech Scheme - By Thomas Ultican 8/24/2026 Big technology oligarchs are pushing their dangerous not-ready-for-prime-time artificial intelligence (AI) products into Americ...18 hours ago
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This and That, August 24, 2026 - I meant to post this sooner - this event is tomorrow night, the 25th. I am hearing that Governor Bob Ferguson and State Superintendent Chris Reykdal ...20 hours ago
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First Fish Chronicles: What We Need to Know About EdTech, Data, and Privacy - First Fish Chronicles: What We Need to Know About EdTech, Data, and Privacy *An FAQ about why EdTech companies need, want, and collect your child's data an...1 day ago
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Spider-Man Lands a Punch: Fist to Cheese - The classic line from the Spider-Man show was, “Lookout! Here comes the Spider-Man.” And so, Spider-Man punched a white supremacist. Fist to cheese. For so...1 day ago
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Weekend Quotables - Jeffries and Kushner hold a secret meeting. But what are they chatting about?1 day ago
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Arguments to Counter Pressure to Adopt AI in Schools - With permission from the author, Anne Lutz Fernandez, I am posting the document below with hopes that it will reach an even larger audience than it alrea...1 day ago
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Data Centers, Public Schools, and Politics - One issue is uniting people from all across the political spectrum1 day ago
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TODAY'S TOP NEWS - YESTERDAY'S BEST BLOG POSTS AUGUST 24 2026 - TODAY’S TOP NEWS - YESTERDAY’S BEST BLOG POSTS1 day ago
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The Meritocratic Consensus and Stratification in Higher Education - American colleges and universities are highly stratified by pre-college academic achievement, family background, and institutional resources. This study...1 day ago
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MNPS and Not-So-Secret Secrets - Nashville education blogger TC Weber highlights what some say are significant challenges around student discipline in MNPS. It is one of the worst-kept sec...1 day ago
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No Compromise: End the War Now! - At this hour, solidarity begins with a clear demand: the United States and Israel must end their illegal war, and they must retreat.1 day ago
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This year's drop in NYC state test scores: sound and fury, signifying nothing - When the state test scores were released a couple of weeks ago, they showed sharp drops in proficiency for NYC students, particularly in reading. This...2 days ago
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Understanding Education: Corporal Punishment - 15 states have laws that allow corporal punishment in schools. Here’s where, and why, Katie Mills (NPR, 19 August 2026) Recommended Summary Physical punish...2 days ago
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Silicon Valley Executives Are Tech Fans but Not for Their Own Kids (David Streitfeld) - A reporter for The New York Times, Streitfeld often writes about technology. This article appeared August 18, 2016. Social media is bad for children. That ...2 days ago
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We Love Billionaires! - As a middle school teacher, I spent a fair amount of time talking with kids—mostly 8th graders, going into high school—about what you might call their life...2 days ago
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What Is the Far Left ? - What is the Far Left ? The growing visibility of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and victories by some DSA-backed candidates has triggered an upsu...3 days ago
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SPI Welcomes Salinas Students Back to Campus - California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond welcomes Salinas students back to campus and celebrates community schools.3 days ago
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Randi’s Weekly Report: ‘Shop Retailers Other Than Target This Back-to-School Season’ - In this week’s video, I talk about why we’re encouraging people to skip Target for back-to-school shopping, and lift up the latest news from our union—like...4 days ago
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Under the Lights, the Truth Is Harder to Hide - “The problem is that progress stopped making sense. More and more of us looked up one day and realized that the emperor had no clothes.” ― Anna Lowenhaupt ...4 days ago
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SQ 844: How is this better? - In plain terms, the new language gives the Legislature the authority to establish both the amount and methodology for distributing ad valorem reimbursement...5 days ago
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A Wake-up Call for the Country - As a nation we can do so much better for young children and families.5 days ago
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Everybody Should Be Somebody’s Baby: How Americans Fail Early Learners - For many pregnant women in America, prenatal care is not accessible or affordable. ~Hillary Rodham Clinton, It Takes a Village (p.75) Helping children be...6 days ago
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Data Centers are a Public Education Issue - The opposition to data centers is scrambling education politics6 days ago
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California’s Kid-Critical Ballot Propositions (2026) - Proposition 3 and Proposition 43: Votes that affect government’s ability to work for kids One of a series examining the… The post California’s Kid-Criti...6 days ago
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Fraught Trump Era Will Intensify Challenge for Teachers to Protect Students’ Rights and Serve Their Needs - It is the third week in August, when across the United States, the 2026-2027 school year will soon begin. Constitutional law professor Derek W. Black expla...1 week ago
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Parental Rights Bills Forgot Children Have Rights, Too - And if parental rights are fundamental, they should not stop being fundamental the moment other parents disagree with the parental rights movement leaders.1 week ago
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Read This If You Want to Learn to Read - I want you to experience how a skilled teacher makes certain that her first graders learn to read. Imagine that you’re sitting in the back of a classroom...1 week ago
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What’s the Pattern? - The Pattern. Is it the thing that holds our raises down? Yup. What precisely is it? Activists and advocates know it is a problem. That’s good. They are rig...1 week ago
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I Wrote Nearly 100 NY Times Posts On Teaching ELLs – Here Are Links To All Of Them - For several years, I regularly wrote posts for The NY Times Learning Network on teaching English Language Learners. You can see all of them at ALL MY NY ...1 week ago
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The end of a run. - I have decided to end my substack column after more than 25 years of blogging about schools, teaching, art and politics.1 week ago
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1096 is now 1008 - Retirees Rally (Again) on Healthcare - Who was there, UFT/Unity MIA - I posted about this event just as I was leaving to attend Thursday morning: NYC Retirees Press Release - Legislation Introduction with Council Member Chr...1 week ago
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How A.I. Learned that Some Cognitive Science Views of the Reading Process are Wrong and Federal and State SoR Laws are Existential - A Refutation of Mark Seidenberg’s Language at the Speed of Sight and Emily Hanford’s Sold a Story1 week ago
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Despite their rhetoric, Private Schools aren't dramatically boosting teacher salaries with their unconstitutional, taxpayer funded windfall - Teachers in Columbus Diocese reaping less than 5% of the $66.5 million increase in EdChoice tuition subsidies for Franklin County school districts between ...1 week ago
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Time to change our Nation’s Diaper - It’s time to change our nation’s diaper. Our national identity now reeks due to our inability to clean out the mess caused by the Orange Turd. Corruption i...2 weeks ago
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And Suddenly, There’s a Math Book (You Already Know) - Note: This is a reminder that, if you became a paid subscriber to this blog, you’ll get a signed copy of You Already Know from ... Read More The post An...2 weeks ago
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And Suddenly, There’s a Math Book (You Already Know) - Note: This is a reminder that, if you became a paid subscriber to this blog, you’ll get a signed copy of You Already Know from ... Read More The post An...2 weeks ago
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Controversy Over Bluebonnet Curriculum in Montezuma-Cortez Schools & a Texas Teacher Explains Concerns Over the Curriculum - The Montezuma-Cortez School Board has chosen to implement the controversial Texas-based Bluebonnet curriculum. The post Controversy Over Bluebonnet Curr...2 weeks ago
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Un pueblo organizado aún puede vencer a los multimillonarios - Si hablamos directamente con los votantes que han perdido la fe en ambos partidos polÃticos sobre las preocupaciones en sus vidas diarias, podemos comenzar...2 weeks ago
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But Daddy, He Reads Romance & Eats Puss - A definitive guide to the best T.V. boyfriends/husbands, plus what kind of romance novels each of them would read2 weeks ago
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DOE must revise draft class size proposal by providing a concrete plan showing how smaller classes will be provided to NYC students within the legal timeline - For immediate release: August 3, 2026 Contact: Leonie Haimson, leonie@classsizematters.org; 917-435-9329 Last week, Class Size Matters and the Education L...3 weeks ago
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NPE Conference Panels Focus on Keeping Schools under Community Control - https://networkforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Demcracy-Conference-Promo-Landscape-6.mp4 The post NPE Conference Panels Focus on Keeping...3 weeks ago
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GLP-1 Meds for Kids? Some Info. - Like many consumers of television and social media, I have been bombarded with ads for GLP-1s (short for glucagon-like peptide-1). The ads are everywhere. ...3 weeks ago
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By One Dishonest Measure - A loaded question that education reformers like to ponder is: Exactly how many students in the boroughs of New York City are trapped in failing schools? In...5 weeks ago
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1776 - __________ “The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army…. We have, therefore, resolved to conquer...1 month ago
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Comparison of Florida’s Major K-12 (Publicly Funded) Education Options - Still on the campaign trail. Last night, I was at a public forum where, when asked about “School...1 month ago
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Regarding Trump’s Utter Defeat and Surrender in the Middle East: Iran gets to charge fees, too! - Many analysts have explained how the recent MOU between Trump and Iran is a humiliating and deep failure for the current regimes of both the USA and Israel...2 months ago
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Illustrations: Why “Cost” Matters in School Finance Research - Figure 1 – left panel – compares nominal per pupil spending by U.S. Census Poverty rates for all school districts nationally. Per pupil spending is measure...2 months ago
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Conversation Among Friends: Deborah Meier & Alfie Kohn - Alifie Kohn jsut sent me this link to a talk we gave at a Coalition of Essential School conference in 2011.2 months ago
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May’s Parent Engagement Resources - San Diego Unified Created a System to ‘Empower’ Parents. It Unraveled is from The Voice of San Diego. Why Those Disengaged Parents in Your School Deserve a...2 months ago
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Donald Patton Resigns From Christina Board of Education - The word on the street is Donald Patton resigned from the Christina School District Board of Education less than two months before his term was set to expi...3 months ago
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500-Year-Old Slave Revolt of 1526 Redefines Freedom as US Turns 250 - In 1526 — long before the more renowned dates that anchor the nation’s story of 1619 and 1776 — enslaved Africans rose up and freed themselves on the land ...3 months ago
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Statement on the NYS Comptroller’s audit of NYC’s Privacy and Security of Student Data - Statement on the NYS Comptroller’s audit of NYC’s Privacy and Security of Student Data May 4, 2025 The audit from the State Comptroller’s office released t...3 months ago
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Reflections on America, the world, and life - I acknowledge that I rarely post here anymore. Folks should remember that I am approaching my 80th birthday in less than 9 weeks, I am still teaching ful...4 months ago
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Peace Treaty: Why Schools Don’t Change (Even When Everyone Knows They Should) - People love to say “schools resist change.” It sounds like a personality flaw—lazy, stubborn, old-fashioned. But schools aren’t hard to change because educ...5 months ago
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The Problem with "the Science of Reading" - The problem with “the science of reading” is that it’s not new.6 months ago
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Shutting Down The Site - Ten years ago, I ran for a seat on the LAUSD School Board of Education with the goal to *Change the LAUSD*. I am proud of the campaign we ran. We achieve...7 months ago
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Dear NJ Teachers and Their Families: You MUST Not Vote For Jack Ciattarelli - To all NJ public school staff and their families: *You must not vote for Jack Ciattarelli. He will do serious, lasting damage to you personally, and the ...9 months ago
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Blogoversary #19 — Time to Move on - Times have changed. I had a nice long run here, but let’s face it, it ended a while ago. So I’ve moved. I’m not writing much any more, but when I do it wil...11 months ago
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McGrath and Kaminsky: Key Names in the School Policy Debate - The landscape of American school policy is no longer shaped only behind closed doors. It’s debated in town halls, on social media, and through public prote...1 year ago
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"Didn't do *that*," part 1: new Schofield case developments reveal crucial 10th Circuit/Ledger lie - The record is clear. Jeremy Scott confessed at least 40 times in a 2017 hearing. He never recanted. The Ledger must retract its lie to force Judge Kevin Ab...1 year ago
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Achieve 3000 Answers Key (Updated 2023) - Are you on the hunt for the most recent Achieve 3000 answers for the year 2023? Your search is over! ... Read more1 year ago
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Il Papa è Morto - Francis brought a distinct pastoral outlook to his papacy. A simple man, he lived in a small apartment in the guesthouse. He sought to make the church acce...1 year ago
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Kemenangan Member Birutoto Main PG Soft Speed Winner - Kemenangan Member Birutoto Main PG Soft Speed Winner Birutoto – Situs Slot Gacor Terpercaya The post Kemenangan Member Birutoto Main PG Soft Speed Winner...1 year ago
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Mike Shulman the ARISE UFT Judenrat - I was surprised to learn that Mike Shulman has aligned himself with ARISE. I previously supported him, advocating that the Castle Doctrine could have bee...1 year ago
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Can Students Expect a Relevant Education to be Delivered by Irrelevant Educators? - As a veteran teacher of forty years in the classroom, let me be clear, teachers are not completely at fault for becoming irrelevant in their profession. It...1 year ago
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The US Department of Education Should not be Eliminated. Still, it must be reformed. - If you don’t have an attention span that lasts long enough to learn what I’m teaching in this post, start with the conclusion first. Then if you want to re...1 year ago
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Malcolm & John David Washington Talk NFL, Christopher Nolan & ‘The Piano Lesson’ - 'The Washington brothers built their careers apart—until an irresistible project drew them together. In The *Piano Lesson*, they tackle a father’s thorny...1 year ago
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AIN’T IT AWFUL - As the terrible feelings of dread and angst spread across the world the great majority of the American people feel powerless before the onslaught of those ...2 years ago
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Did Darryl Willie lie or interfere in the whistleblower investgation? Why not both? - Willie said below to Action News Jax [image: image.png] It's troubling for quite a few reasons. First he is saying the board knew about the complaint an...2 years ago
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Could This Be Gadfly’s End? Top 12 Articles From 2023 Read By Fewer Than Ever - After 9 years of pounding my head against the wall - well, it seems like the wall is winning.2 years ago
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Redesigning School Governance: Beyond Mayoral Control - From time to time the legislature passes a bill with a sunset provision, unless the law is reauthorized by a specific date the law reverts to the law it re...2 years ago
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POSTPONED: Florida’s Impact on Social Studies - POSTPONED: discussion with Florida and DC educators and advocates on the impact of Florida's new laws Continue reading2 years ago
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Vote NO on the UFT Contract. Here is Why: - The best reason to vote no on this contract is this: UFT Unity* lied* to us in 2018. They misrepresented that contract. It was predicated on deals we wer...3 years ago
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Testimony to the CPS Truancy Task Force - I prepared testimony for one of two public hearings held by the Chicago Public Schools Truancy Task Force, a body mandated by state legislation. The meetin...3 years ago
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Tennis Memories from a Time When Racism and Anti-Semitism Still Prevailed - I learned tennis at a public park in Brooklyn- Lincoln Terrace- where the teaching pro was a mailman named Phil Rubell. Almost all the kids who took lesson...3 years ago
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There Is A Teacher Shortage.Not. - THERE IS A TEACHER SHORTAGE. And just to be sure you understand, it’s not that teachers don’t want to teach. It’s not that there aren’t enough teachers cer...4 years ago
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Want to know the condition of a Philly school building? New map to help. - [image: Two students walk by a Philadelphia school building.] Aging infrastructure has been an issue for Philadelphia schools for years. A new interactive...4 years ago
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STREET LIFE - My mom told me, “You should treat all people equally, but don’t bring a “colored” into the house.” I believed … Continue reading →4 years ago
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Schools Matter: Reflecting on Green Dot’s Disastrous Locke Takeover - *“Green Dot came and made it into more of a jail.” — Chris* My history of opposing the Green Dot Charter School Corporation back when I was an activist i...4 years ago
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Book Banning Turns to Dick and Jane - Breaking News: Dateline February 4, 2022 - Parents in Dimwitty, Alabama have asked the Dimwitty Board of Education to ban the children's primer *Fun with...4 years ago
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Have You Heard Has a New Website - TweetHave You Heard has a new website. Visit us at www.haveyouheardpodcast.com to find our latest episodes and our entire archive. And be sure to check out...4 years ago
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Follow me at Substack - I've moved. Follow me at Substack I'm now posting regularly at Substack. You can subscribe for free to my new Edu/Pol blog at michaelklonsky.substack.com ...4 years ago
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I’ve moved. - I’m on Substack now. You can continue to receive periodic posts for free. Or you can read every post and comment for $5 a month, $60 a year. fredklonsky.su...4 years ago
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Milwaukee Bradley Foundation at Center of Attacks on U.S. Voting Rights - The Big Money Behind the Big Lie Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win...5 years ago
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Milwaukee Bradley Foundation at Center of Attacks on U.S. Voting Rights - The Big Money Behind the Big Lie Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win...5 years ago
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Aspiring Teachers Get New Help Paying For College - [image: colorful classroom pattern] *; Credit: shuoshu/Getty Images* Cory Turner | NPR New rules kick in today that will help aspiring teachers pay for c...5 years ago
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Major victory over a corporate charter school chain and their trade association - Original post at Robert’s page on Medium. On Tuesday, March 23, 2021, I got my second big win in court against a charter school corporation. It was also a ...5 years ago
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Tips Akses Situs Judi Qq Tanpa Perlu Takut Nawala - Kegiatan berjudi slot melalui situs judi qq online, sekarang sudah dilakukan oleh banyak penjudi Indonesia. Tentu, Kamu yang sedang membaca artikel ini a...5 years ago
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The Threat of Integration - I have lived in the same house in the Miracle Mile section of Los Angeles for over 30 years, where up until now I have had little or no interaction with th...5 years ago
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New Teacher Evaluation Report Released by the Network for Public Education - A new report on current teacher evaluation systems throughout the US was just released by the Network for Public Education. The report is titled, “Teachers...5 years ago
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www.job-applications.com - https://www.job-applications.com/bed-bath-and-beyond-job-application/5 years ago
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Teacher Creates National Database Tracking COVID-19 Outbreaks in Schools - Kansas educator Alisha Morris's online coronavirus news-tracker goes viral, now hosted on a new NEA website.5 years ago
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Correction for July 10th Post on School District Audit - On July 10, 2020 we published a post “School District Caught Manipulating Attendance Records to Get More Money” which incorrectly cited Valley Park School ...6 years ago
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We fight for a democracy worthy of us all! - The nation stands at a crossroads, said NEA President Lily Eskelsen GarcÃa in her final keynote address to the 2020 NEA Representative Assembly and it’s up...6 years ago
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Giving Private Schools Federal Emergency Funds Slated for Low-income Students Will Shortchange At-risk Kids - Low-income Seattle students began to pick up bagged lunches in March after their school closed. Karen Ducey/Getty Images Derek W. Black, University of Sout...6 years ago
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The Passing Of Chaz 1951-2020 Age 69 - I am the son of Chaz and like to inform you that he passed away this afternoon from the COVID virus. My father passed in peace beside his loved ones. We ar...6 years ago
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Let The Next Round Of Anti-Semitic Ads Begin - All four pro-public education candidates came in first in their LAUSD school board elections, but two will face run-offs in November.6 years ago
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The Fight For Our Children - *The number of suicides among people ages 10 to 24 nationally increased by 56 percent between 2007 and 2017, according to a new federal report showing the ...6 years ago
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Love Grow Your Own (but not without the actual growth part) - The Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, recently announced a grow-your-own type of program for teachers. According to this piece: On Monday, Governor Ral...6 years ago
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Another attempted cash grab by the corporate ed crowd in Washington State: House Bill 2788 - The League of Women Voters has opposed charter schools because they don’t have boards elected by the voters but instead the corporation running the schools...6 years ago
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Read to Self: Just a Kid and a Book. - Date: Monday, January 5, 2020 Place: My classroom Student: Mrs.Mims, could we start doing Read to Self again because I got this great book for Christmas an...6 years ago
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Reminiscences - I just finished dumping the rest of my lesson plans. I guess I held on to the calculus ones for so long because I spent so much time working on them an...6 years ago
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Just Asking for some Teachers I know. - Recently Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers stated, We must … recognize that part of supporting our kids in the classroom means supporting the educators who t...6 years ago
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Charging a terrified 10-year-old girl as a criminal is a very bad look for state attorney Dennis Ward - What the hell is going on? As a parent, I feel very comfortable using this exact wording to ask this … Continue reading →6 years ago
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Cara Menang Bermain Judi Bola Online - Bermain judi bola online tentu saja memiliki kesenangannya tersendiri baik itu mendapatkan keuntungan maupun ketika menantikan hasil skor pada sebuah perta...6 years ago
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Blaming Schools for Student Absences is Like Denouncing Doctors for Disease by Steven Singer - Originally posted at: https://gadflyonthewallblog.com/2019/08/25/blaming-schools-for-student-absences-is-like-denouncing-doctors-for-disease/?fbclid=IwAR1LV...6 years ago
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Jersey journalist roughed up at session sponsored by charter school groups - The sponsors of an event that doesn’t like journalists An independent New Jersey journalist was roughed up, his video camera was seized, and he was ejected...7 years ago
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K12 Inc. Data Breach Puts thousands of students at risk - It's hard to believe school districts are still contracting with this horrible company. K12 Inc. is the largest for-profit online alternative to actual pub...7 years ago
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A Critique of Standards-Based Grading - It first happened to me about ten years ago. I was beginning my third year of teaching in a new school in Washington, DC. Social studies teachers were si...7 years ago
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Reduced time for testing? Not so fast. - NYSED and Commish Elia continue to say that the NYS Assessments are of reasonable length, I completely disagree. Here is what NYSED states are average expe...7 years ago
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A Response to NorthJersey.com's Explosive "Cashing in on Charter Schools" Series - From NorthJersey.com's Cashing in on Charter Schools series Please note: THIS is what journalism looks like. For the better part of a *DECADE* I have wa...7 years ago
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This Week in Education Organizing - February 15, 2019 - Coalition for Education Justice to Release Report on CRE Eighty-five percent of public school students in New York City are Black, Latinx, or Asian and y...7 years ago
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The World According to Michelle Rhee - The men behind the curtain fashioning the brave new world of corporate run education in America! Michelle Rhee is the founder of StudentsFirst, The New T...7 years ago
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Libraries, books and overcoming the effect of poverty - *Published in the New York Times, September 20, 2018* *To the Editor:* *Re “Why libraries still matter.” [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/opinion/sund...7 years ago
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TSJ's 17th Annual Curriculum Fair - *TSJ's 17th Annual Curriculum Fair* *** REGISTER HERE *** *From Puerto Rico to Chicago:* *Reclaiming and Reimagining Our Communities* Saturday, November 1...7 years ago
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Whose Opinions Matter in Education World? - It's hard to identify education heroes and sheroes. And perhaps even harder to pinpoint just whose work is slanted, paid-for and dishonest.7 years ago
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Book Review: The History of Institutional Racism in U.S. Public Schools (2018, Garn Press) by Susan DuFresne - I recently had the privilege of reading Dufresne’s powerful illustrated history of educational and institutional racism in the United States. Dufresne blen...8 years ago
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Corruption on Top of Corruption: How Rahm’s Response to Sexual Abuse of Students Reveals His Core Function - Rahm Emanuel’s response to the Chicago Tribune investigation that found CPS failed to protect hundreds of students from sexual abuse is cowardly. It is co...8 years ago
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New Local Businesses in Sacramento - Starting a new local business in Sacramento is a monumental task, but can be accomplished with footwork, perseverance and knowledge. One must learn the loc...8 years ago
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Lesson Plan: Rhyme and Rhythm in Poetry - I’ve started a recent unit on poetry with my class. I’m not a poet, and I’m not a poetry fan (I don’t hate it, but I’m a prose gal), so this makes it harde...8 years ago
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The Apotheosis of Betsy DeVos - Betsy Devos has drawn few headlines in recent months, and that is a good thing for the Secretary of Education. Her tenure began with Vice President Mike P...8 years ago
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A Teacher’s Tale in the Midst of the Terror in our Schools - Students’ active-shooter plan for teacher in wheelchair: ‘We will carry you’ Reprinted from Allison Slater Tate Feb. 21, 2018 at 4:58 PM Like teachers all ...8 years ago
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Social Emotional Data. The new Cash Cow in the Corporate Assessment Industry - Recently I was asked to allow my son to participate in a survey at school. The "opt in" survey form specifically stated, "the questions on the survey rela...8 years ago
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Education Is a Civic Question - In their final post to end Bridging Differences' decade-long run, Deborah Meier and Harry Boyte urge readers to put the energy, talents, wisdom, and hard w...8 years ago
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Site News: New Home for Education News & Commentary - Quick! Get over there! The daily education news roundup and education commentaries that you're probably looking for are now being published over at The Gra...9 years ago
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Should We Be Grateful? - In an odd turn of events, and with little explanation, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has decided to return the state’s School Reform Office back to the Dep...9 years ago
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Parents Deserve to Know Who Is Being Appointed to State Board of Ed - I spent a rather surreal day at NJ Senate's Judiciary Committee meeting yesterday. This Committee, headed by Democrat Nick Scaturi, is responsible for a...9 years ago
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An Open Letter to NC Lawmakers - An Open Letter to NC State Lawmakers and NC State Superintendent Mark Johnson: I am a NC native, voter, and public school teacher. I am addressing you all ...9 years ago
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The Secret to Fixing Schools (My Next Bestseller) - The Secret to Fixing Schools (My next bestseller) Prologue I just finished watching a fascinating documentary on Netflix entitled, “The Secret”. The film p...9 years ago
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CPS Targets Special Education Teacher Sarah Chambers - Here are the remarks from an action we did today at River Point Plaza, a new development that used over $30 million in TIF funds. CPS claims we are broke...9 years ago
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Farewell, Sleep - Today is the official last day of my spring break. I've done a scientific survey: My natural bedtime is 2 AM, and my natural wake up time is 9:41 AM. Tom...9 years ago
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March is nearly over and I didn't do anything for WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH - I was inspired when I saw this meme I guess it can be called of WOMEN IN STEM and "IT'S OKAY TO BE SMART" And I began thinking about how the only subjec...9 years ago
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REPORT: States With the Best and Worst Schools - States With the Best (and Worst)Schools By *Evan Comen, Michael B. Sauter, Samuel Stebbins and Thomas C. Frohlich* January 20, 2017- http://247wallst.com ...9 years ago
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Test Refusal = People Power - In recent months, social media has been ablaze with talk of regular folk taking action to resist the Trump agenda. Protests are a daily occurrence, and ev...9 years ago
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Attitude Determines Altitude* (*conditions apply)… and the Importance of Humane District Themes - It has been a tumultuous few years in the South Brunswick community, specifically the South Brunswick School District. All you have to do is google the dis...9 years ago
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What Is To Be Done? Trump, the Election, and the Student Loan Crises - President-elect Donald Trump delivering acceptance speech in New York, NY on November 9 (Photo Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Ever since now Presi...9 years ago
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Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Today's Big Education Ape - PostRank Top AM Posts #ows #edreform
Unorthodox education predictions for 2012 - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post
Unorthodox education predictions for 2012
It’s not especially hard to make conventional predictions for the education world in 2012:
*The U.S. Education Department will grant some states waivers from the most onerous requirements of No Child Left Behind.
*Congress will fail — again — to do a comprehensive rewrite of NCLB.
*Education Secretary Arne Duncan will keep pushing the Race to the Top initiative, so long as Congress provides the cash, ignoring the lack of evidence to support the reforms it requires.
Read full article >>Call for one tax on November ballot | Thoughts on Public Education
Call for one tax on November ballot - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess
A blank check to Sacramento would be a Dickens of a bad deal - by Arun Ramanathan
Are Latino Students Better Off, 44 Years After CA School Walkouts? - Hispanically Speaking News
Are Latino Students Better Off, 44 Years After California School Walkouts?

The first time I got to listen to Sal Castro speak was four years ago at UC Santa Barbara during my freshman year of college. Last month, I had the opportunity to hear him lecture again at Cal State Bakersfield, on the topic of education reform, along with professor Mario T. Garcia from UCSB.
Castro, an educator and lifelong Chicano activist, is most well known for his role in the East Los Angeles high school walkouts of 1968. Those historic walkouts were a defining moment of the Chicano movement. At its height, 15,000 mostly Latino students from schools throughout LAUSD left their classrooms to protest social discrimination and educational inequality between white and Latino students in the public school system.
The students back then had a long list of demands, which included: The
2011 Bittersweeet Year for Latino Immigrants in Texas

For activists and defenders of human rights in Texas, 2011 will be remembered for a rash of bills against illegal immigration in the state legislature and, in response, the fight to protect immigrants.
Early last year the legislature was inundated by the innumerable bills punishing undocumented immigration requested by Gov. Rick Perry, who pushed the Republican majority to pass a measure penalizing sanctuary cities.
After months of intense debate, however, none of the almost 40 bills passed.
While the legislative redistricting plan that emerged was blocked by federal judges who accepted the U.S.
Jersey Jazzman: What School "Choice" Is Really About
What School "Choice" Is Really About
Indiana:
Still, Dayana said she wouldn’t necessarily recommend at transfer to all students at a public school.New Jersey:
“I think it depends on the person,” she said. “I really want to succeed in life. Some people should stay in a public school, though. If they were able to come to a private school, maybe that would change for them, but there are some kids that really just don’t care about their education.”
“I’m surrounded by students who want to learn and succeed, who aren’t fighting
To a Better School Year in 2012 « City School Stories
To a Better School Year in 2012
Notes from the Field
Submitted by Frank Murphy on Jan 3, 2012
The latest wave of budget reductions in the School District of Philadelphia took effect on December 31, 2011. As a result, another 141 district employees were laid off. These individuals join the ranks of the hundreds of other essential, school-based employees who have helped this year to narrow the gaping district budget short fall by unwillingly relinquishing their jobs. Nurses are the primary targets of this latest cost saving effort.
Learning that you have been terminated is never pleasant news to hear. But the decision to send out lay off notices to these employees on the day before Christmas Eve is reminiscent of the worst behavior of Ebenezer Scrooge. The outrage over this action resonated throughout the comment section of a post published at thePhiladelphia Public School Notebook. Also clearly articulated in the comments responding to this article is a
Southwest Florida Alliance of Education Leaders to Povide Pushback on Tallahassee | Scathing Purple Musings
Southwest Florida Alliance of Education Leaders to Povide Pushback on Tallahassee
The Fort Myers News-Press reports on the creation of a group of 5 superintendents and 5 college chiefs that will make their own outreach to business communities to affect education policy. Glades superintendent Wayne Aldrich says “it’s up to teachers, parents and business leaders to change the mindset in Tallahassee, one so focused on testing and remediation that instruction often gets lost.”
Ranking 38th nationally in per-student K-12 spending, 47th on the SAT and 48th on the ACT, Florida schools aren’t wowing the country. Only 29 percent of incoming freshmen at Edison State College, Southwest Florida’s largest institution, are fully prepared for college.
“These problems didn’t happen overnight and they’re not going to be solved overnight,” said Hodges
Schools Matter: On Huffington Post censorship and Parent Revolution puff pieces
On Huffington Post censorship and Parent Revolution puff pieces
If there ever was an online bastion for right-of-center Democrats, it's Huffington Post. Their education reporting is abysmal in terms of both editorial content and policy advocacy. Their choice of bloggers heavily favors privatization minded charter-voucher swindlers. With a few notable exceptions, including Dr. John Thompson and Larry Ferlazzo, Huffington Post functions as shills for charters, vouchers, and other Freidman fantasies for converting the commons to commerce.To wit deplorable reactionaries like Michelle Rhee, Whitney Tilson, and fringe right organizations like Teach Plus all have Huffington Post
Monday, January 2, 2012
NYC Educator: Governor Cuomo, Pedagogical Expert?
Governor Cuomo, Pedagogical Expert?
Well, happy New Year, in which we learn, on the second day of this New Year, that the new(ish) boss is the same as not only the old boss, but all of the bosses. You see, Governor Cuomo now fancies himself an expert on--wait for it!--not only pedagogy, but the "student perspective" on pedagogy,whatever that means.Kimble's Corner: Iowa, It's Up to You Now
Iowa, It's Up to You Now
Iowa, it's up to you now. I've done my best job of crisscrossing your state and letting you know about why I'm the right choice for the job of President. Now, it's up to you not to blow it. Iowa's caucuses strike me as uniquely Iowan - the idea that you can spend several hours advocating for a candidate only to switch to a second choice CLUELESS ABOUT EDUCATION ? PICK A GOLDEN APPLE « Teachers Fight Back
CLUELESS ABOUT EDUCATION ? PICK A GOLDEN APPLE
The Golden Apple Foundation in my city is looking for volunteers to observe teachers and help select the 2012 Golden Apple Award winners. The foundation said that the volunteers don’t need to have a background in education. The volunteers must attend a 90-minute training session on observing and evaluating the teaching process. Volunteers will observe three or four finalists for one hour each and complete their evaluations.
What could be more simple than that ? Remember, everyone is an expert on education and teachers. (See one of my previous posts on “everyone being an expert on what makes a good teacher”). Ninety minutes of training, a one hour observation, and bingo, we’ve got an evaluation. What if the volunteer is a hidden white racist? Oops, there goes the black teacher’s chances. What if the volunteer hated science when they were in school ? Oops,
U.S. Department of Education Amends its FERPA Regulations to Allow for Certain Additional Student Disclosures | The National Law Review
Monday, January 2, 2012 Administrative & Regulatory / Public Education & Services All Federal |
The United States Department of Education (DOE) has completed its administrative procedures and has enacted new regulations that amend current regulations enforcing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. section 1232g. These new regulations, which are effective on January 3, 2012, allow for greater disclosures of personal and directory student identifying information and regulate student IDs and e-mail addresses, among other issues. The new regulations are found at 34 CFR, Part 99, sections 99.3, 99.31, 99.5, 99.6 and 99.37. Colleges and universities need to quickly consider the impact of these new regulations upon their current student privacy policies and existing notices. Failure to do so may result in complaints and DOE enforcement proceedings.
FERPA
FERPA is a longstanding federal statute which provides that a parent or eligible student, if over the age of 18, has a right to inspect and review the student's education records and to have them amended and withdrawn, under certain circumstances. FERPA is applicable to all public K-12 school districts and virtually all post secondary institutions, as they receive federal funds under programs administered by the DOE. FERPA generally prohibits the disclosure of personally identifying information (PII) contained in "education records," without aparent's or student's written consent, to certain third parties. There are a number of statutory exceptions for emergency medical and health reasons and for law enforcement activities, among others. PII includes a student's name, social security number, parents' names, family addresses, birth dates, place of birth, a parent's maiden name, and any other data that make a student's identity easily traceable.
FERPA makes a distinction between PII and "directory information." DOE regulations allow for the disclosure of directory information, without needing a student's or parent's consent, unless the parent or student has opted out of such disclosure. A school subject to FERPA must provide a written notice to parents or students setting forth its disclosure policies concerning directory information with the procedures for opting out and contesting the student's education records.
The New Regulations
A. Directory Information and Student IDs
The new regulations clarify that an institution may, under certain circumstances, designate and disclose student ID numbers, or other unique personal identifiers, as directory information to be displayed on a student’s ID card or badge as long as the ID card is not the sole method of obtaining access to the student’s education records and is used with other credible identifiers. The regulations also provide that a parent or student may not opt out of the disclosure of such directory information.
The DOE left it up to the schools to determine what specifically should be included on a student ID. It also stated that FERPA does not require schools to force students to wear IDs. With regulations enacted in 2008, institutions may use directory information to access online electronic systems and to allow a school to require a student to disclose his/her name, identifying information and institutional e-mail address in and out of class. The DOE further clarified that an institution need not make directory information available on student IDs, but may do so if it so chooses.
B. Studies and Audit and Evaluation Exceptions
The new regulations also allow for the disclosure of PII, without student or parent consent, where institutions have contracted with organizations to conduct studies or audits of the effectiveness of education programs. However, the regulations require a written agreement with the organization containing mandatory provisions intended to guard the privacy of student records. The regulations also provide institutions with detailed, required provisions aimed at preventing PII from ending up in the hands of persons or entities not intended or permitted to receive them, and guidelines for addressing data breaches. A careful review of the regulations is necessary before an institution enters into any agreement to provide PII access to an organization that is conducting a study or an audit and evaluation.
C. Notices
The new regulations contain a model notification of rights form for post secondary institutions to provide to students and parents. Given the changes in the DOE's regulations described in this Alert, current notice forms must be re-examined to determine whether they are in compliance. Also, the DOE's model form has a number of optional provisions that each institution should evaluate based on their specific needs.
Conclusion
FERPA and the DOE's regulations are complex and create the potential for administrative sanctions. The new regulations give expanded authority to institutions to make disclosures, but a careful approach to crafting policies and disclosures is necessary to avoid administrative penalties, as well as possible lawsuits by students and parents.
©2011 Greenberg Traurig, LLP. All rights reserved.About The Author

Stephen Mendelsohn concentrates his practice on all aspects of commercial litigation through trial and appeals with an emphasis on financial institutions, securities and real estate. He counsels employers on all facets of employment law and has broad experience with private and public universities and schools. Stephen represents a number of private equity funds in their securities litigation matters. Previously, Stephen served as an assistant Attorney General for the State of New York.








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